CHAP. III. ELAND. 171 



able to get a cup of hot coffee, — a luxury that no one in 

 Africa, rich or poor, would dream of dispensing with at day- 

 break ; and after seeing the horses carefully groomed and 

 Hghtly fed, we had our own breakfast, which, as may be 

 guessed, consisted of elands' tongues and coffee, and then, 

 saddHng all our four horses, and selecting the two lightest 

 boys as after-riders, we started for, as we hoped, and as it 

 turned out, a final day. 



We made our way towards the foot of a conical hill 

 which commanded an extensive view, and for the top of 

 which a native look-out had started even before I had 

 awoke, and who now came down to us and described the 

 positions and respective numbers of three herds of eland 

 that he had seen, and among which we had to choose one 

 to go after. Fortunately the largest herd was also in the 

 most favourable spot for our purpose ; it was about a mile 

 up a broad glen with practically perpendicular sides, which 

 extended without a break for some three miles, a pass 

 which led to a flat beyond then occurring, while the main 

 glen, after narrowmg considerably, and with a steady rise, 

 held on its way for some distance, until terminated by a 

 forest- covered ridge that bridged it over, while beyond it 

 was again continued. Its formation was no doubt of prior 

 date to the small stream which, rising in numerous springs 

 in the table-land above, came down the dividing spur, and 

 which had perhaps deepened the valley it had found in 

 existence. It was naturally a spot much favoured by the 

 elands, the small rills trickling over the steep sides combin- 

 ing with the heat and moisture to cause the grass not only 

 to sprout earlier, but to retain its spring-Hke hue even 

 during the dry season ; and as it was not by any means the 



